Abstract

Legislation guiding development in Queensland now advocates for an integrative approach in which a broad range of issues must be accommodated. However, competing interests can be identified in discursive contexts that illustrate irreconcilable differences likely to stymie development in environmentally sensitive areas. A case study about the contestation surrounding the Naturelink cablecar proposal for the Gold Coast hinterland found that significantly different ‘versions of nature’ underpinned pro- and anti-development arguments. Analysis of text extracts representative of the opinions of supporters and opponents of the cableway show that discourses are key actors in negotiations around developments in environmentally sensitive areas. The findings from the case study demonstrate how pro-development discourses were focused on the positive economic benefits from tourist activity, while anti-development proponents used protection of the environmental locale to depict industry and nature as mutually exclusive. Thus, competing discourses hindered a successful outcome for developers and affirmed the stand of anti-development advocates. The disparate notions put forward by participants in the debate over the Naturelink proposal highlight the importance of finding common discursive ground across highly differentiated interest groups when processes of negotiation include ecological, economic and cultural factors

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